Namaste all,

I am worried about a certain justice trend going too far... I know it might be controversial for me to say this, but somehow I feel like the propagation of the truth that the West stole many of its scientific and cultural concepts from Hinduism and the East in general would lead to a complete exclusion of Westerners from being able to partake and spiritually benefit of these Hindu ideas. I'm not just talking about yoga here. I've read how a lot of other Hindu concepts were stolen by the West too. But that doesn't mean it's impossible for a Westerner to be genuinely respectful of and benefit from these ideas.

Maybe I'm just worrying too much or being oversensitive, but whenever I see a post on how much the West has stolen from India, I take it personally. Like it's somehow telling me that my fundamental desire to be a practicing Hindu is disrespectful in and of itself and that if I had any respect for Hinduism I'd stop trying to be one immediately. But how am I supposed to do that when Hindu philosophy is the very reason I'm still alive today? I wanted to adopt Hinduism in the first place so I could stop being ashamed of who I was. Perhaps there are those who would see my behavior and attitude as fundamentally disrespectful no matter what I do, but there are born Hindus who don't see me that way. Who am I supposed to listen to?

Why do those Westerners who profit from stolen yoga have to spoil it for the rest of us who do want to respect it and practice it? There are nice Westerners too.